TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of the relationship between precipitation extremes and sediment discharge production under extensive land cover change in the Chinese Loess Plateau
AU - Zhang, Jianjun
AU - Gao, Guangyao
AU - Fu, Bojie
AU - Gupta, Hoshin V.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 41822103 and 41701207 ), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2017YFA0604703 ), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (no. QYZDY-SSW-DQC025 ), the Open Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology of China (no. SKLURE2019-2-5 ), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (no. 2016040 ). We thank the Ecological Environment Database of Loess Plateau, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, and the National Meteorological Information Center for providing the hydrological and meteorological data. We thank the three anonymous reviewers for their professional comments, which were extremely helpful in improving this manuscript.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 41822103 and 41701207), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2017YFA0604703), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (no. QYZDY-SSW-DQC025), the Open Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology of China (no. SKLURE2019-2-5), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (no. 2016040). We thank the Ecological Environment Database of Loess Plateau, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, and the National Meteorological Information Center for providing the hydrological and meteorological data. We thank the three anonymous reviewers for their professional comments, which were extremely helpful in improving this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/7/15
Y1 - 2020/7/15
N2 - To quantify the effects of rainfall and catchment characteristics on sediment yield is of essential importance for sustainable land management. Precipitation extremes are the external cause of the majority of serious soil erosion and suspended sediment yield (SSY) events in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), which has undergone extensive land use/cover change (LUCC). The investigation of the linkage between climate variables and SSY production is crucial to the precise implementation of ecological restoration strategies, thereby reducing soil loss in the CLP. In this study, a partial least squares regression (PLSR) approach is used to investigate this issue using 1961–2015 data from 16 main catchments in the CLP. This period includes the reference period (1961–1979, Period-I), integrated soil conservation project period (1980–1999, Period-II), and the “Grain for Green” program period (2000–2015, Period-III). The results indicate that the dominant climate factors driving SSY are precipitation extremes including maximum precipitation events, heavy precipitation (daily precipitation ≥25 mm), consecutive wet days, erosive precipitation (daily precipitation ≥12 mm), and annual total precipitation. The effects of the precipitation extremes on sediment yield generation are stronger in drier catchments. The influence of the precipitation extremes on sediment generation can be strengthened by cultivation and weakened by revegetation (especially reforestation). The climate-driven sediment yield decreased by 951 t·km−2·yr−1 during Period-II and 505 t·km−2·yr−1 during Period-III in comparison with Period-I. The dominant cause of the sediment yield reduction was LUCC, with the contribution increasing from 73% in Period-II to 92% in Period-III. This study provides a greater understanding of the effects of climate variation and LUCC on sediment yield, and is beneficial for better catchment management.
AB - To quantify the effects of rainfall and catchment characteristics on sediment yield is of essential importance for sustainable land management. Precipitation extremes are the external cause of the majority of serious soil erosion and suspended sediment yield (SSY) events in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), which has undergone extensive land use/cover change (LUCC). The investigation of the linkage between climate variables and SSY production is crucial to the precise implementation of ecological restoration strategies, thereby reducing soil loss in the CLP. In this study, a partial least squares regression (PLSR) approach is used to investigate this issue using 1961–2015 data from 16 main catchments in the CLP. This period includes the reference period (1961–1979, Period-I), integrated soil conservation project period (1980–1999, Period-II), and the “Grain for Green” program period (2000–2015, Period-III). The results indicate that the dominant climate factors driving SSY are precipitation extremes including maximum precipitation events, heavy precipitation (daily precipitation ≥25 mm), consecutive wet days, erosive precipitation (daily precipitation ≥12 mm), and annual total precipitation. The effects of the precipitation extremes on sediment yield generation are stronger in drier catchments. The influence of the precipitation extremes on sediment generation can be strengthened by cultivation and weakened by revegetation (especially reforestation). The climate-driven sediment yield decreased by 951 t·km−2·yr−1 during Period-II and 505 t·km−2·yr−1 during Period-III in comparison with Period-I. The dominant cause of the sediment yield reduction was LUCC, with the contribution increasing from 73% in Period-II to 92% in Period-III. This study provides a greater understanding of the effects of climate variation and LUCC on sediment yield, and is beneficial for better catchment management.
KW - Attribution analysis
KW - Partial least squares regression
KW - Precipitation extremes
KW - Sediment yield change
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U2 - 10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107176
DO - 10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107176
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083466835
SN - 0169-555X
VL - 361
JO - Geomorphology
JF - Geomorphology
M1 - 107176
ER -